Many of you will not know the name Dan Pfaff. Dan Pfaff is arguable the world’s best track coach; he’s coached 29 NCAA Champions and 33 Olympians. He is now the heading coach for Britain’s Track and Field program and has identified injury prevention as the single biggest issue facing UK Athletics. This guy gets it, and by “gets it” I mean understanding what is important and what is necessary to see adaptation and performance.
What I find interesting about listening and reading Pfaff’s material is here is a guy, who works with some of the best athletes on the planet. He works with a very, for a lack of a better description, homogeneous group of people. These are athletes in the 90th percentile of the population yet he does not treat them the same. He treats them as a heterogeneous group, understanding that each is an individual, with different needs, imbalances and capabilities.
Yet here we are at a time in the New Year that everyone is at the gym, tending to their New Years Resolutions and they are doing programs and training on programs and plans for the masses. They are attempting to conform to the homogenous group, regardless of individual differences. If you are new to the gym seek out the gym staff that are knowledgeable to help you assess your “individuality.” Have a quality trainer develop a program for you, if you are not a person who needs their hand held through training. Understand that one program does not fit all. To the approach that one program can be beneficial to many is a plan destined to fail. Some individuality to programs is a necessity. If you are going to hire a trainer, make sure they watch these three videos. Hopefully they get just a little bit if “it”.
Yours in Health and Performance,
Jeff Osadec, Mkin, CEP, CSCS